Pivoted jaw wrench having jaw adjusting means



1952 A. WESTERMAN ET AL 52 PIVOTED JAW WRENCH HAVING JAW ADJUSTING MEANS Filed March 51, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET l INVENTOR5 fllherz Wesiermafl Donald 5522 7772 an Feb. 5, 1952 A. WESTERMAN ET AL PIVOTED JAW WRENCH HAVING JAW ADJUSTING MEANS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed March 31, 1950,

INVENTORS T Vsie rmzam Patented Feb. 5, 1952 PIVOTED JAW WRENCH HAVING JAW ADJUSTING MEANS Albert Westerman and Donald Westerman, Traill County, N. Dak.

Application March 31, 1950, Serial No. 153,060

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a wrench of the type employed for clamping work or the like.

The primary object of the invention is to hold and to clamp work such as nuts, bolt heads or like items and to avoid the necessity of tedious adjustment of a movable jaw of the wrench toward the fixed jaw thereof.

Another object is to enable the work to be easily and quickly clamped with but a single movement of the lever toward the wrench handle, and to assure firm and correct clamping of the work by the jaws of the wrench.

A still further object is to facilitate the rapid adjustment of the positions of the jaws with relation to the work and to assure that the work is being held under the correct clamping pressure.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this invention which embodies among its features a wrench of the type having a handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent to the fixed jaw, a spring connected to thevmovable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position relative to the fixed jaw, and means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the effort of the spring, which means includes a lever pivoted to the fixed jaw and an extensible and collapsible link connected to the lever and to the handle to serve as an adjustable fulcrum about which the link rocks as the movable jaw is advanced toward the fixed jaw.

Still other features include means carried by the link yieldingly to urge said link to extend, means carried by the link to arrest its collapse when an object is clamped between the fixed jaw and the movable jaw, and means carried by the lever and engaging the link for regulating the pressure exerted on an object clamped between the jaws.

Still other features include a clutch carried by the link for arresting its collapse when an object is clamped between the fixed and movable jaws, an advanceable and retractable plunger carried by the link adjacent the lever and held against retraction by the collapse of the link, and adjustable means carried by the lever adjacent the plunger for engaging said plunger and regulating the pressure exerted by the jaws on an object held therebetween.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of a wrench embodying features of this invention and showing the jaws in open position;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the wrench illustrated in Figure 1 showing the movable jaw advanced into engagement with a piece of work;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view partially in section showing the pressure regulating cam and plunger in detail;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional View taken substantially along the line 6-6 of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 1-1 of Figure 1; and

Figure 8 is afragmentary view of the movable jaw actuating lever showing a modified form of pressure control cam.

Referring to the drawings in detail a handle I0 is equipped at one end with a fixed jaw l2 adjacent to which is pivotally connected as at M a movable jaw l6. Pivotally coupled as at ill to the movable jaw at a point remote from the pivot H3 is a lever 20 which in its present form takes the shaped a yoke having spaced parallel legs '22. A retractile coil spring 24 is coupled at one end to the movable jaw I6, and at its opposite end to the handle It so as to exert pull on the movable jaw I 6 to rock it about its pivot 14 and away from the fixed jaw l2.

Pivotally connected to the lever 20 intermediate its ends is one end of an elongate, straight, telescopic link designated generally 26 which comprises a sleeve 28 which is pierced at dia- 'metrically opposite points adjacent one end to receive a pivot pin 36 which extends through the arms 22, pivotally to couple the sleeve to the lever 20. Mounted for rotation within the sleeve 28 is a thimble 32, the inner end of which is closed by a head 34, the purpose of which will more fully hereinafter appear. The end of the thimble 32 remote from the head 34 is equipped with an enlargement 36 which projects beyond.

the end of the sleeve 28 and is provided at the end adjacent the sleeve 28 with a conical surface 38. This conical surface cooperates with a conical surface 46 carried by the sleeve 28 at its end remote from the pivot 30 so that the two surfaces cooperate to form a clutch which will arrest rotation of the thimble relative to the sleeve.

Pivotally connected as at 42 to the handle l0 remote from the jaw i2 is one end of a stem 44 which is of circular cylindrical cross section and provided with a longitudinal spiral groove 46 forming a high pitch fast thread. The stem 44 is received inside of the thimble 32 and projects into the thimble and sleeve 28 as will be readily understood upon reference to Figure 3. Extending radially into the enlarged portion 36 of the thimble 32 are diametrically opposed internally screw threaded openings 48 for the reception of screws 58, the inner ends of which bear against balls 52 which enter into the grooves 46 so that as the thimble 32 is moved relative to the stem 44, rotary movement will be imparted thereto by the engagement of the balls 52 with the walls of the spiral grooves 63. It will thus be seen that as the sleeve 23 is moved longitudinally relative to the stem 44, the thimble 36 will rotate until such time as the movable jaw l B is arrested against an object engaged by the fixed jaw I2, at which time the conical faces 38 and 40 will frictionally engage one another and thus stop rotation of the thimble 32 within the sleeve 28.

In order to hold the link 28 extended a compression coil spring 54 surrounds the stem 48 and one end bears against a suitable stop carried by the stem 44 adjacent to the pivot 42, while the opposite end bears against a suitable thrust bearing 55 which is interposed between the spring and the enlargement 38 of the thimble 32.

Mounted for longitudinal sliding movement within the sleeve 28 about the pivot 38 is a plunger 58, the inner end of which is tapered as at 60 and bears against the head 34 of the thimble 32, while the opposite end of said plunger projects beyond the sleeve 28 and is bifurcated to rotatably receive a roller 62 mounted on a spindle 64 which is carried by the bifurcated end of the plunger 58.

Mounted for rocking motion on the lever 28 about the pivot 38 is a yoke 66 of inverted U-shape and form, and fixed to the bight portion of said yoke is a cam 88 the cam face 18 of which lies in the path of movement of the roller 62. This cam is provided at its end remote from the yoke 66 with an arm 12 which is pierced with an opening 14 for the reception of a screw 16. This screw is threaded through an internally screw threaded opening 78 formed in a block 80 which is mounted between the arms 22 of the lever 20, and interposed between the arm 12 and the block 88 is a compression coil spring 82 which urges the arm 12 away from the lever 20, and the cam surface away from the roller 62.

In the modified form of the invention illustrated in Figure 8, the lever 28a is provided between the legs 22a with a web 84 and mounted to rock about a pivot pin 38a which extends through the legs 22a of the lever 28a is a cam 86 carrying an arm 88 which extends longitudinally between the legs 22a and is provided at a point remote from the cam 86 with an internally screw threaded opening 90. A screw 92 is mounted in the web 84 to rotate about its longitudinal axis but is held in any conventional manner against axial movement and this screw threadedly engages the threads of the opening 90 so that upon turning the screw 92 the cam 85 will be rocked about the pivot pin 38a. In this form of the invention the sleeve 28a is bifurcated as at 94 to receive the cam 88 and the bifurcated end of the sleeve 28a is pierced to receive the pivot pin a so as to pivotally couple the sleeve 28a to the lever 28a. The sleeve 28a is equipped with a thimble 32a which corresponds to the thimble 32 and bearing on the thimble 32a, is a plunger 58a which projects into the bifurcation 94 and engages the cam 88. The ends of the sleeve 28a and the thimble 32a remote from the pivot pin 30a correspond to the structure of the sleeve 28 and thimble 32 previously described. It will thus be seen that by turning the screw 92 of the modified form of the invention, the position of the cam 86 can be altered to vary the pressure of the jaws of the wrench on the Work.

In use it will be understood that the jaw I8 is moved about its pivot 14 to open position under the influence of the spring 24 and at the same time the spring 54 serves to urge the link 28 into extended position. The open position of the wrench is illustrated in Figure 1 and when an object is placed between the jaws l2 and I8 and the lever 20 is swung toward the handle l8 about its pivot 18, it will be obvious that the link 25 will cause the movable jaw l6 to move about the pivot 44 toward the object to be clamped, and as resistance to movement of the jaw I6 is encountered through contact with the object, the link 28 will tend to collapse through rotation of the thimble 32 about the stem 44. As further pressure is exerted and resistance to movement of the jaw 45 is encountered, it is evident that the tapered clutch faces 38 and 40 will arrest rotation of the thimble 32 and hence prevent the further collapse of the link 26. The amount of pressure required properly to hold the work is governed by adjustment of the screw 16 which moves the cam 68 about the pivot pin 38, so as to regulate the collapsibility of the link 28 through contact of the roller 62 with the cam face 18. Obviously as the screw 16 is turned to advance the arm 12 against the effort of the spring 82, the cam face 10 will be advanced toward the plunger 58 so that the pressure exerted by the movable jaw against an item clamped between the jaws will be increased. Obviously with the reverse movement of the screw '16, the pressure exerted by the jaws on the work will be decreased.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as claimed.

We claim:

1. In a wrench of the type having an elongated handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent the fixed jaw, a spring connected to the movable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position, relative to the fixed jaw, means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the effort of the spring comprising an elongate lever pivoted to the pivoted jaw remote from the handle, a straight, elongate, collapsible and extensible telescopic link pivoted at one end to the lever and at its other end to the handle, means carried by the link for yieldingly urging said link to extend, and means carried by the link for arresting its collapse when an object is clamped between the fixed jaw and the movable jaw.

2. In a wrench of the type having an elongated handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent the fixed jaw, a spring connected to the movable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position relative to the fixed jaw, means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the effort of the spring comprising an elongate lever pivoted to the pivoted jaw remote from the handle, a straight, elongate, collapsible and extensible telescopic link pivoted at one end to the lever and at its other end to the handle, means carried by the link for yieldingly urging said link to extend, means carried by the link for arrestin its collapse when an object is clamped between the fixed jaw and the movable jaw and means carried by the lever and engaging the link for regulating the pressure exerted on an object clamped between the jaws.

3. In a wrench of the type having an elongated handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent the fixed jaw, a spring connected to the movable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position, relative to the fixed jaw, means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the effort of the spring comprising an elongate lever pivoted to the pivoted jaw remote from the handle, a collapsible and extensible link pivoted to the lever and to the handle, means carried by the link for yieldingly urging said link to extend, a clutch carried by the link for arresting its collapse when an object is clamped between the fixed and movable jaws, an advanceable and retractible plunger carried by the link adjacent the lever, said plunger being held against retraction by the clutch, and adjustable means carried by the lever adjacent the plunger for engaging said plunger and regulating the pressure exerted by the jaws on an object therebetween.

4. In a wrench of the type having an elongated handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent the fixed jaw, a spring connected to the movable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position relative to the fixed jaw, means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the effort of the spring comprising an elongate lever pivoted to the pivoted jaw remote from the handle, a stem pivoted to the handle remote from the jaws, said stem having a fast pitch thread extending substantially throughout its length, a thimble threadedly engaging the stem for movement longitudinally thereon, an elongated sleeve pivoted at one end to the lever and encircling the stem, and means carried by the sleeve remote from the lever for engaging the thimble and arresting rotation thereof about the stem when resistance is offered to movement of the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw.

5. In a wrench of the type having an elongated handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent the fixed jaw, a spring connected to the movable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position relative to the fixed jaw, means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the efiort of the spring comprising an elongate lever pivoted to the pivoted jaw remote from the handle, a stem pivoted to the handle remote from the jaws, said stem having a fast pitch thread extending substantially throughout its length, a thimble threadedly engaging the stem for movement longitudinally thereon, an elongated sleeve pivoted at one end to the lever and encircling the stem, means carried by the sleeve remote from the lever for engaging the thimble and arresting rotation thereof about the stem when resistance is offered to movement of the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw, a plunger carried by the sleeve adjacent the lever, means carried by the thimble for engaging the plunger and holding it against retraction into the sleeve, and means carried by the lever and engaging the plunger to vary the pressure exerted on an article clamped between the jaws.

6. In a wrench of the type having an elongated handle, a fixed jaw carried by one end of the handle, a movable jaw pivoted to the handle adjacent the fixed jaw, a spring connected to the movable jaw and to the handle for moving said movable jaw to open position relative to the fixed jaw, means for advancing the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw against the efiort of the spring comprising an elonagte lever pivoted to the pivoted jaw remote from the handle, a stem pivoted to the handle remote from the jaws, said stem havin a fast pitch thread extending substantially throughout its length, a thimble threadedly engaging the stem for movement longitudinally thereon, an elongated sleeve pivoted at one end to the lever and encircling the stem, means carried by the sleeve remote from the lever for engaging the thimble and arresting rotation thereof about the stem when resistance is offered to movement of the movable jaw toward the fixed jaw, a plunger carried by the sleeve adjacent the lever, means carried by the thimble for engaging the plunger and holding it against retraction into the sleeve, a cam mounted on the lever adjacent the plunger for engaging said plunger as the movable jaw is advanced toward the fixed jaw, and means carried by the lever and engaging said cam for advancing and retracting said cam relative to the plunger.

ALBERT WESTERMAN. DONALD WES'I'ERMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 919,260 Smith Apr. 20, 1909 936,980 Bing Oct. 12, 1909 952,079 Mcmtire Mar. 15, 1910 1,280,405 Collison et al Oct. 1, 1918 1,752,425 Ersland Apr. 1, 1930 2,397,239 Brown Mar. 26, 1946 2,471,734 Fischer May 31, 1949 2,487,281 Steckelberg Nov. 8, 1949 2,499,201 Thayer Feb. 28, 1950 

